TWD: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream and How to Make Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Maker

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. I love being a part of TWD - it has challenged me to develop my baking skills in so many ways. I've had so many firsts with the group - brioche, eclairs, homemade pie crust, scones, etc. Never have I been more happy to be a part of this group than now because thanks to TWD, I have now discovered that I can make ice cream at home without an ice cream maker!!!


I have long been drooling over all the ice cream recipes on everyone else's blogs, regretting a previous decision. You see, when I purchased my KitchenAid Mixer, there was a mail in rebate for a free attachment - I could choose between the ice cream maker or the pasta maker attachment. I was trying to be 'good' and decided that if I had an ice cream maker, I would make way more ice cream than I should be eating, so I opted for the pasta maker attachment instead. Oh, how I have been regretting that decision all summer!


When I saw that ice cream was this week's pick, I thought that I would have to sit this one out. But then a link was posted to David Lebovitz' blog with an alternative method. I have now learned that it is possible to make smooth and creamy ice cream at home without an ice cream maker! I don't think you can understand how truly happy this has made me!! :) I no longer have any regrets about choosing that pasta maker attachment.


The recipe was very straightforward. Just cook the blueberries with some sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and a pinch of salt. Then blend it into a puree and add the heavy cream and sour cream. That's it! At this point, you would either pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, or if you're without a machine like I am, into your baking dish.


Then you just blend/mix the ice cream mixture every 30 minutes until it is fully formed. I was extremely wary of whether this method would work, but imagine my excitement and surprise when, after a few hours, I had successfully made my own ice cream! Instead of one or two large scoops, I decided to play around with the plating and used my cookie scoop to fill my bowl with lots of mini scoops.


I wasn't sure if I would like the flavor of the sour cream in this, but the tartness of the sour cream complimented the sweetness of the blueberries nicely. My husband thought the flavor was a bit too strong, like I could have used twice as much heavy cream and ended up with a better, more subtle flavor, but I thought it was just right. Perhaps next time I will try it with more cream and see if my husband is right...


Thanks again to Dolores for choosing Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream this week. I have discovered how to make my own ice cream at home, and you know I will be trying all sorts of ice cream recipes now! I've included the method for making ice cream without an ice cream maker below, but if you would like the actual recipe for the blueberry sour cream ice cream, you can find it here. Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see how everyone else enjoyed this frosty treat.

*Update: When I first made this, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to cover the dish before placing it in the freezer, so I covered it. The process took much longer than 2-3 hours and towards the end, I decided to see if it would help if I took the lid off. As soon as I took the lid off, my ice cream came together within about 1 hour. I concluded that the process had taken longer because I had covered my dish. I have since tried making ice cream again using this method, this time leaving my dish uncovered. It still took about 5-6 hours. Unfortunately, I introduced another factor the second time around - a deeper dish. So now I am unsure if the longer time is from covering the dish, or from using a deeper dish. The next time I make ice cream, I will use a shallow dish, uncovered, and then let you know! But rest assured that if it takes longer than 2-3 hours, don't be discouraged... just continue mixing every 30 minutes and your patience will be rewarded!

** Another update: I made some ice cream again, this time using a 13x9-inch pyrex glass pan. The larger pan gave the cream more room to spread out, thus giving it a larger surface area. I'm happy to report that came together nicely after about 3 hours!

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Making Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Maker
from living the sweet life in paris by David Lebovitz

Prepare your ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath.

Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your custard mixture into it. (I used a 2-1/2 qt oval CorningWare - do not cover it!)

After forty-five minutes, open the door and check it.

As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it's freezing. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results, or use a stick-blender or hand-held mixer. But since we're going low-tech here, you can also use just a spatula or a sturdy whisk along with some modest physical effort.

I used my Braun Multiquick Professional Hand Blender (model MR5550MBC-HC) for this task. It's nice to find another use for this, besides my favorite tomato basil soup :)

Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready.

Transfer the ice cream to a covered storage container until ready to serve.